Category Archives: Art and design

Shubow shellacks Lamster

Posted on May 21, 2015 by David Brussat

The latest piece by National Civic Art Society president Justin Shubow for Forbes.com, “Why Can’t the New Urbanists Get a Fair Shake?,” is less a defense of the New Urbanism than an attack on Dallas Morning News architecture critic Mark … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Save the Four Seasons!

Posted on May 20, 2015 by David Brussat

The owners of the famous Four Seasons restaurant in the famous Seagram Building want to renovate its Pool Room. No less an eminento than Robert A.M. Stern, America’s only classical starchitect, writes to defend its modern design. His piece is … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Landscape Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Skeffingtonian legacy?

Posted on May 19, 2015 by David Brussat

Sunday, during a jog, the chief new owner of the Pawtucket Red Sox had a heart attack. Jim Skeffington’s death – may he rest in peace – thrusts his plan to move the PawSox to Providence into deep shadow. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Providence, Rhode Island | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

A memorial contest for WWI

Posted on May 16, 2015 by David Brussat

An international competition will be held to design a memorial for World War I – the only major U.S. conflict without a national monument on the Mall. The memorial would not be federally funded. The $20 million or so cost … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Development | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

“Why is Boston so ugly?”

Posted on May 15, 2015 by David Brussat

That’s the question asked by Rachel Slade in Boston magazine. Her answer is that developers don’t hire enough Thom Maynes or Renzo Pianos. The real answer is that developers hire too many Thom Mayne and Renzo Piano wannabes, and that … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Development, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Naked Times Square, cont.

Posted on May 14, 2015 by David Brussat

This blog, bloviating before its vacation, wondered whether anyone could tell what is underneath the electronic billboards of Times Square. Close examination suggests that few if any buildings there warrant exposure from billboard removal. The clear fact is that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Style in words and buildings

Posted on May 9, 2015 by David Brussat

Andres Duany in his treatise Heterodoxia Architectonica engages the concept of classicism’s relation to language. Umberto Eco, in his On Literature, engages the concept of language’s relation to style. This blog is about the “style wars” of classicism versus modernism. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

“The People vs. Modernism”

Posted on May 8, 2015 by David Brussat

Malcolm Millais has sent me another video, this one entitled “The People vs. Modernism.” What a glorious compiliation! Beneath a score of ominous music selected from the depths of the minor key, its creators, who refer to themselves as ArchitectureMMXII, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why is modern art so bad?

Posted on May 8, 2015 by David Brussat

Malcolm Millais, author of Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture and an upcoming book correcting the record on Le Corbusier, sent me a video of an artist, Robert Florczak, at Prager University, explaining the erosion of standards in the art world … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Humor, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Classical cataclysm in Nepal

Posted on May 3, 2015 by David Brussat

The death toll from earthquakes in Nepal have reached well into the thousands. Coverage of rescue efforts has understandably taken priority over news of the terrible cultural cost of the disaster. The Nepalese capital of Kathmandu and other ancient centers … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Other countries, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment